Article

Using apps from multiple accounts on a single iOS device

Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-, iPhone-, iPad-, iTunes-, or Apple TV-related questions from a member of the iLounge editorial team. We'll answer several questions here each week, and of course, you can always get help with more immediate concerns from the iLounge Discussion Forums. Submit your questions for consideration using our Ask iLounge Submit Form. We reserve the right to edit questions for grammar, spelling, and length.

Q: Could you elaborate on the statement “actually have apps from up to five different accounts installed on a single device” from your article on Transferring apps to a family member’s iPhone? How does one do this? Isn’t a device tied to a single iTunes Library for syncing and each library tied to a single iTunes Store account or Apple ID?

- John

A: The one-to-one device-to-library pairing is at least partially correct in terms of traditional iTunes syncing, but actually doesn’t apply at all in relation to content from iTunes Store accounts.

Even when syncing with an iTunes library, the single library restriction only applies if you’re using automatic sync. While this has been assumed by many to be a way of preventing piracy, it’s really just the only easy way that an automatic synchronization system can work without being overly confusing. In this configuration, your iPhone, iPod, or iPad mirrors the content in your iTunes library. This is relatively simple to understand, and trying to have this kind of synchronization occur with more than one library would quickly get confusing for the average user. In essence, when using automatic synchronization, the iPhone, iPad, or iPod is an extension of the iTunes library on your computer, which essentially acts as the “master” library.

That said, however, you can easily put most devices in “manual” mode and transfer content onto them from more than one iTunes library. In this mode, the device acts as its own independent media library, rather than an extension of a main iTunes library, and you manually add and remove content directly on your device by accessing it directly via iTunes, rather than simply making changes in your main library and syncing them from there. Our Beginner’s Guide to iTunes provides more detailed information on how all of this fits together.

Note that all of the above only applies to music, movies, TV shows, and books. Photos are always synced automatically from a single library, and as of iTunes 11, Apps are not automatically synced at all, and can actually be installed from any iTunes library—if you visit the “Apps” tab in iTunes 11 you’ll notice that the traditional checkboxes that were found in prior versions have been replaced with buttons that indicate whether an app is installed or not, and toggle to “Will Install” and “Will Remove” when clicked, indicating what the status of the app will be during the next sync.

However, this library-to-device relationship actually has almost nothing at all to do with iTunes Store accounts. Although your computer must be authorized for an iTunes Store account to play or transfer protected content (apps, videos, books, etc), you can actually authorize multiple accounts on the same computer, for the same iTunes library. You can only be logged in to a single account at a time, but can very easily switch to a different account simply by clicking the button near the top-left corner when viewing the iTunes Store to access options for signing out of the current account and signing into another one.

Downloading content from a given iTunes Store account will authorize your computer for that account automatically, but should you ever need to do this manually—such as when copying content in directly from another computer, for instance—you can do so by selecting Authorize This Computer from the Store menu in iTunes. Our Guide to Using the iTunes Store provides more information on this.

The process for iPods and iOS devices is similar. You can log out of the current iTunes Store account in the iTunes or App Store apps by scrolling down to the bottom of the main page and tapping on the button that shows your account name, and then sign in as a different user. Your device will automatically be authorized for any media content or apps downloaded under that account, provided you haven’t reached the five-account limit.

Further, syncing content from an authorized iTunes library will automatically transfer the authorization for that content to your device, again provided you haven’t reached the five-account limit for a given device. This happens automatically when you transfer the content and doesn’t require any specific action on your part.

Note that once your computer or device is authorized, you do not need to remain logged in to any particular account in order to use any media content or apps that are on your device. The authorizations are stored and handled separately from whichever account you happen to be logged in with at any given time.

However, there are a couple of important limitations to keep in mind pertaining to Apple’s more recent cloud services. Firstly, if you are re-downloading previously purchased content from another account, or have automatic downloads enabled for new content, you will only be able to change accounts for these purposes once every 90 days. Much like the five-account limit, this is primarily in place to discourage illegal sharing of media content; it does not apply to purchasing new content, nor does it apply to re-downloading apps. It also does not apply to transferring content that is already in your iTunes library. See iTunes in the Cloud limitations on iOS devices for more detailed information.

If you are an iTunes Match subscriber, you will need to remain signed in to your iTunes Match account in order for your content to remain available on your device or in your iTunes library. Similarly, because iTunes Match replaces your on-device music library with whatever is in the cloud, this will affect your ability to transfer music on from more than one computer. However, even iTunes Match still supports music from more than one iTunes Store account, provided it’s in one of the iTunes libraries that have been added to iTunes Match. See Secrets & Features of iTunes Match for more information on this.

You can still switch accounts temporary if you want to purchase or download something with a different account, but when switching back to the account that you use for iTunes Match, you will need to re-enable the service from the Store menu in iTunes, or under Settings, Music on your iOS device. Note that iTunes Match is also part of the 90-day restriction, so you will not realistically be able to re-download previously purchased content from other accounts on any device that you are using for iTunes Match; even after the 90-day time period has expired, switching to another account would begin a new 90-day time window that would prevent you from switching back to your iTunes Match account with that particular device.

Comments

I have 2 Apple IDs. I was told by Apple that if both are synced to same computer, that I can then use all apps purchased on one account on the other, including free and restore of in app purchases. Then why, when I restore purchases, it tells me to sign in with user that purchased app. If I have to sign in with my user that bought app, that is where I can't. If you will bear with me, I will explain why I can't...
Unfortunately this is true. Reason why I cannot sign in as my user that bought app is because Apple conveniently decided to commit fraud on my account, by claiming I made two purchases I would never dream of buying, because A) I am a 40 year old man living alone with my cat, and B) I would never purchase "Pony Princess Bounce World" or "My Little Princess"...the apps Apple claims I bought. Get real! So I told Apple that they can forget payment for something I did not order. 24 hours later when I tried to install a free app I was blocked from my account "due to a billing error" and had to enter a valid credit card before they could install my free app. After continuous contact with Apple, they said block can only be removed when they get their 2 dollars for the purchased apps. Glad I come from a family of high priced laywers. This is principle. I am suing Apple for fraud and theft. They asked for it. All my lawyers asked Apple to do was to remove the block, cancel so called purchases, and restore my account to before so called purchases were made. Apple responded with a no.
If you are still with me, any way I can access the fully purchased apps with in app purchases on my open Apple ID that were bought on my now blocked Apple ID?Posted by Joachim on 2014-01-31 01:15:25